This weekend I will travel 3,000 miles to buy my silver xA.

I am moving from Alaska to New Mexico. I was supposed to fly into El Paso, Texas (nearest major airport), and jump right into my new car. But the dealer there failed to get the xA I ordered two months ago. Instead of calling me a month ago to say they would not be able to get it, they did nothing. I called them on Monday and got the bad news less than one week before my arrival.

So I scrambled for two days to find a dealer that had one on the lot. The nearest manual xA was in Phoenix. I almost bought that one until I learned that AZ tax is almost triple NM tax and the AZ dealer was going to hit me with a $300 doc fee. So I found an xA in Santa Fe.

The only catch is that it’s an auto. Oh well, maybe I did not really want to do all that clutching and shifting anyway. Instead of paying $900 more in taxes and doc fees, I am getting an AT instead of a manual. The dealer is picking me up at the airport, and then I get to drive my new beauty 250 miles to my new home. Good thing the dealer installs cruise control. It’s $500 (ouch!), but I’ll be loving it on those gorgeous New Mexico highways.

The adventure begins! BTW, I will be living in a cabin at 9,000 feet elevation. It'll be interesting to see how she runs way up there in the clouds!

Congrats on the new ride. :shock: Yeah all AZ dealers run like a $275 doc fee I think it is. As for tax :shock: that must be some major odd ball thing. Are sales tax is not that high so I dont know what was going on there.

The AZ dealer said I'd have to pay 8.1 percent sales tax. In NM, it's only 3 percent and no doc fee as long as you turn in the registration and pay the taxes yourself at the DMV. If the dealer does it for you, it costs about $200, but at least they give you the option. I did think about buying the car in Alaska and driving all the way to NM. What an adventure that would be! But I have a bad back and would not survive all that driving.

I dunno bout crossing state lines, but in CA you pay for the sales tax of the county of your residence, not the dealer's location. I found this out from the dealer I purchased the car at. . . a few of the other dealers told me I had to pay the local tax rate of the dealer.
But I KNOW I paid my local tax rate (7.25% vs 7.75%). . . I signed the paperwork afterall.

I dunno bout crossing state lines, but in CA you pay for the sales tax of the county of your residence, not the dealer's location. I found this out from the dealer I purchased the car at. . . a few of the other dealers told me I had to pay the local tax rate of the dealer.
But I KNOW I paid my local tax rate (7.25% vs 7.75%). . . I signed the paperwork afterall.

Yeah I think thats the way it is here in AZ also. You can buy the car here & tell them you will register it in another state, so you get charged there sales tax.